What happened in the Cup – December 15-18, 2023:
- Alinghi Red Bull Racing – Resumed resumed training in their AC75, on Thursday November 7 November. After the end of the second Preliminary Regatta in Jeddah (in which the Swiss placed third), the team returned to Barcelona, and have trained for four days in their recently modified AC75 on December 7-14. (See Alinghi Cup Spy report yet to be published.)
- Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli – Suffered a compression crack in the port topside of their LEQ12 on Tuesday. The repair is underway. (Reported elsewhere in S-W)
- American Magic – Have sailed for six days from Barcelona in their AC75. There have been some modifications as they step up for the launch of their AC75 race boat.
- Emirates Team New Zealand – Have been test sailing for four days, out of Auckland in their LEQ12 since winning SailGP Dubai and the second America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta in Jeddah.
- INEOS Britannia – Have had rudder/rudder box issues for the second time in mid-November, but are expected to be switching to a twin AC40 program, to sail post Xmas.
- Orient Express Racing Team – No report, however they competed in the SailGP Dubai in the first week of December, placing 4th overall.
Cup Spy apologizes for the delay in publishing these America’s Cup team updates due to undergoing a two hour surgery mid-last week. We have the information gathered, and it will be presented grouped by team or date, and published over the next day or so. Reports can be accessed in date order at the bottom of each Cup Spy story.
AC37 Joint Recon Team Reports:
Emirates Team New Zealand – LEQ12 – Day 50 – December 18, 2023 – Auckland
With a 14:00hrs dock out time for Day 50 of LEQ12 testing, Emirates Team New Zealand were obviously planning to sail the NE sea breeze this afternoon. With a low cloud cover across the Auckland Region, we unfortunately, only managed to see 10-12kts average which then died to less than 10 knots further North toward the end of the testing session off Long Bay.
With the normal crew on board, the yacht was towed from the base out passed North Head, and sails were hoisted off Cheltenham Beach. The sails for the entire session today were the M2-3 and J2-2. The team started the session off with a light air self take-off, and apart from the first low speed tack of the session, managed to sail quite a few dry laps between north head and Rangitoto Light House. It was tough to see exactly what the team were working on here as the boat modes and sail trim all looked pretty locked in with not too much to see with the naked eye. There were definitely more tacks than necessary performed, so for sure, this was part of the days testing schedule.
Emirates Team New Zealand – LEQ12 Prototype – Day 50 – December 18, 2023 – Auckland – photo © Sam Thom/America’s Cup
There seemed to be some concern from the team around the starboard foil arm lower section connection point cover/boot half way between the main arm and the foil on the outboard side. This was examined in some detail including what looked like, some photos taken from Blair Tuke off the yacht and then I assume sent over to the coach boat/designers back on shore.
After this short break and discussion, the team were off sailing again on a long starboard tack all the way up toward Torbay. The boat heel and pitch modes looked quite stable, but it seemed the team were testing different sail trims/twist profiles. In the more twisty, faster mode, the boat seemed to slip more easily and looked to create a bit of leeway. When they were running a more vertical leach profile, the boat looked more locked, stable and seemed to climb to windward more easily. In this mode however the boat speed seemed slightly lower, but definitely gained in height and potentially VMG.
Emirates Team New Zealand – LEQ12 Prototype – Day 50 – December 18, 2023 – Auckland – photo © Sam Thom/America’s Cup
Finally, off Torbay, the team tacked. Blair Tuke went down to leeward to inspect the starboard foil arm as they sailed along and then slowly bore away. Again, something was not right here and the team dropped the windward board and performed a slow displacement tack back onto starboard. Here, they again took off on starboard, just managing to pop onto the foils in what was now a marginal 8-10kts off the North Shore. They sailed only for a very short time in this dying breeze on starboard before obviously agreeing to call the session done and dropped sails at 15:24hrs.
Within 15 minutes they were on the foil and heading home. On the tow, the team set the starboard foil arm canted as high as possible to try and keep the lower arm/boot portion out of the water whilst still on a foil tow. After the lift out, we were able to see various people inspecting this outer boot/cover section on the arm. By the way people were inspecting and tapping it, we can only assume it had delaminated or its adhesion to the inner structural part of the arm had failed. Nobody seemed too concerned with the issue, and the intentions were still to sail again tomorrow or the following day. Visibly, there was nothing we could see from our standpoint.
We were able to chat with Blair Tuke, flight controller for Emirates Team New Zealand in an interview after todays sailing session. We tried to get some insight into this issue and the other things currently being tested by the team.
Notes: Port Foil Wing now has both cameras/sensors removed. Delamination or Adhesion issue on stb foil arm boot/cover half way between main arm connection and foil on outboard side.
[Report from Sam Thom – AC37 Joint Recon Team]Crew: Peter Burling, Nathan Outteridge, Andy Maloney, Blair Tuke
Session Statistics: Emirates Team New Zealand – LEQ12 – Day 50 – December 18, 2023 – Auckland
- Weather: Overcast 23° C
- Wind Strength: 10-15kts
- Wind Direction: 270°
- Sea State: 0.2mtr
- Crane In: 1113hrs Dock Out: 1215hrs
- Dock In: 1530hrs Crane out: 1610hrs
- Total Tacks: 40 – Fully foiling: 38; Touch & Go: 2; Touch Down: 0
- Total Gybes: 12 – Fully foiling: 12; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 0
Emirates Team New Zealand – LEQ12 – Day 49 – December 16, 2023 – Auckland
A light, but building, northerly sea breeze was utilised by Emirates Team New Zealand in their LEQ12 testing today out on the Hauraki Gulf.
Peter Burling and Nathan Outteridge were on the helm, and Andy Malony and Blair Tuke in flight control.
Sails used in todays session were the M2-3 main and the J2-2 Jib.
With a dock out of 12:15hrs, the breeze had not yet filled in throughout the harbour so the team opted to tow upwind towards Tiritiri Matangi. Just off Rakino Island, the team cut the tow at 13:09hrs and they were off foiling in about 10kts of breeze.
Not long into the session they came off the foils as they sailed into a lull. A couple of checks were carried out on the main sheeting system at 13:15hrs. After only a two minute stop they were taking off again and sailing a long upwind towards Tiritiri Matangi into a building sea breeze.
Yesterday there were very few manoeuvres and a lot of the focus seemed to be on straight line testing and sailing different modes. Today was quite different, with the boat looking very stable in flight and pitch, and loads of tacks performed with very short intervals between at times.
Emirates Team New Zealand – LEQ12 Prototype – Day 49 – December 16, 2023 – Auckland – photo © Sam Thom/America’s Cup
A few tacks from starboard to port were seen being made with quite late board drops, but all were full foiling apart from a couple of early tacks in light breeze. They carried on tacking for a lengthy upwind before finally bearing away up near Tiritiri Matangi at 14:20hrs.
From here they performed multiple gybes downwind. The team then chose to cut through between Rakino and Motutapu Islands, then sailing through the Motuihe Channel – all on mostly a long port gybe. Here they eventually ran through the Northerly and were forced to tow foil until around Browns Island where they met the converging Westerly breeze.
Mainsheet detail – Emirates Team New Zealand – LEQ12 Prototype – Day 49 – December 16, 2023 – Auckland – photo © Sam Thom/America’s Cup
From here it was an upwind beat back towards the base on the inside of Rangitoto Island in breeze that averaged between 12-15 kts. Again, many tacks were carried out as the team made their way upwind back toward the base before dropping sails off the Viaduct Harbour.
We were lucky enough to speak with Ray Davies, Emirates Team New Zealand Coach, after today’s session.
Report from Sam Thom – AC37 Joint Recon Team
Crew: Peter Burling, Nathan Outteridge, Andy Maloney, Blair Tuke
Session Statistics: Emirates Team New Zealand – LEQ12 – Day 49 – December 16, 2023 – Auckland
- Weather: Overcast 23° C
- Wind Strength: 10-15kts
- Wind Direction: 270°
- Sea State: 0.2mtr
- Crane In: 1113hrs Dock Out: 1215hrs
- Dock In: 1530hrs Crane out: 1610hrs
- Total Tacks: 40 – Fully foiling: 38; Touch & Go: 2; Touch Down: 0
- Total Gybes: 12 – Fully foiling: 12; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 0
Chase boat – Emirates Team New Zealand – LEQ12 Prototype – Day 49 – December 16, 2023 – Auckland – photo © Sam Thom/America’s Cup
New chase boats ex Salthouse – Emirates Team New Zealand – LEQ12 Prototype – Day 49 – December 16, 2023 – Auckland – photo © Sam Thom/America’s Cup
Emirates Team New Zealand – LEQ12 – Day 48 – December 15, 2023 – Auckland
Day 48 of testing on the LEQ 12 for Emirates Team New Zealand started with 11:50 roll out and crane in before docking out at 13:00. With a puffy but consistent average of around 15 knots from the WNW at around 250 degrees, most of the training session today was based out between Motutapu, Rangitoto and the North Shore beaches. The team towed out toward Cheltenham Beach and hoisted here in the lee of the shore.
Sails used today were the M2-3 Main and J3-1 Jib. The session started slow with a hold on sailing for around 20 minutes while an issue was being fixed remotely by the team at the base. Eventually, the team were able to start sailing at around 14:15hrs. With only 7 race tacks and 1 gybe seen today, most of the session was based around straight line testing. Most of the sailing consisted of long port tacks down wind and long starboard tacks upwind.
Emirates Team New Zealand – LEQ12 Prototype – Day 49 – December 16, 2023 – Auckland – photo © Sam Thom/America’s Cup
It was claimed by Blair, a bit of today’s session was getting back used to the LEQ12 after the time apart, but it was also evident there was a lot of emphasis on sailing different modes especially upwind. The team could be sailing high angle high flight modes with lower cant angles, piercing cant down modes, and even very neutral pitch modes to the point where the boat looked bow up at times. The boat looked to handle all the modes well and everyone seemed happy with the days sailing.
After a few long up and downs between Rangitoto, Motutapu and the North Shore, the team headed back toward the base at around 15:15hrs.
On the way back the team were sailing two boards down at times, practising bear aways, and even reaching and upwind modes.
Jib sheet and LIDAR – Emirates Team New Zealand – LEQ12 Prototype – Day 49 – December 16, 2023 – Auckland – photo © Sam Thom/America’s Cup
They did a few of these tests before lifting up the windward foil again and sailing the final upwind on starboard towards Mechanics Bay where they eventually shut the boat down and dropped sails at 15:35hrs.
They docked in at 16:00hrs and we had the pleasure to speak with Flight Controller Blair Tuke to ask him some questions about the day.
Report from Sam Thom – AC37 Joint Recon Team
Crew:
Peter Burling, Nathan Outteridge, Andy Maloney, Blair Tuke
Session Statistics: Emirates Team New Zealand – LEQ12 – Day 48 – December 15, 2023 – Auckland
- Weather: Cloudy 21° C
- Wind Strength: 14-18kts
- Wind Direction: 210°-230°
- Sea State: 0.2mtrs Flat
- Crane In: 1150hrs Dock Out: 1300hrs
- Dock In: 1600hrs Crane out: 1640hrs
- Total Tacks: 7 – Fully foiling: 7; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 0
- Total Gybes: 1 – Fully foiling: 1; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 0
Additional Images:
Emirates Team New Zealand – LEQ12 Prototype – Day 48 – December 15, 2023 – Auckland – photo © Sam Thom/America’s Cup
Emirates Team New Zealand – LEQ12 Prototype – Day 48 – December 15, 2023 – Auckland – photo © Sam Thom/America’s Cup
Emirates Team New Zealand – LEQ12 Prototype – Day 48 – December 15, 2023 – Auckland – photo © Sam Thom/America’s Cup
Emirates Team New Zealand – LEQ12 Prototype – Day 48 – December 15, 2023 – Auckland – photo © Sam Thom/America’s Cup
Emirates Team New Zealand – LEQ12 Prototype – Day 48 – December 15, 2023 – Auckland – photo © Sam Thom/America’s Cup
Emirates Team New Zealand – LEQ12 Prototype – Day 48 – December 15, 2023 – Auckland – photo © Sam Thom/America’s Cup
Emirates Team New Zealand – LEQ12 Prototype – Day 48 – December 15, 2023 – Auckland – photo © Sam Thom/America’s Cup
This commentary was written and compiled from video, still images and statistical content extracted from the AC37 Joint Recon program and other material available to Sail-World NZ including photo files, and other on the water coverage from the 2010, 2013, 2017 and 2021 America’s Cups. Its format is intended to give Sail-World readers a snapshot of all teams’ progress on a given day or period.
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World NZ
